1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a process for providing a printed insurance adjustment estimate. Most particularly, the present invention is directed to the use of a wireless local area network in conjunction with portable computers in order to improve the process of creating an estimate
2. Description of the Related Art
In the insurance industry there has been a move to automate. In the past, an appraiser would take a legal pad to a vehicle and make notes at the vehicle as to parts of a car which have been damaged. The appraiser would then take his legal pad to his office and look up prices, labor times and the like in a variety of books. Then, using a form, the appraiser would calculate the amount of money it would take to repair or replace the parts, paint them and the like.
At a more recent time, a database was installed on a mainframe and a sheet was used to identify numbers on parts. This database substituted for the books previously used. The appraiser could access the database from a stand-alone computer in his office. This process was a combination of keypunch and inputting barcodes. However, the database did not improve the process of note-taking and taking the notes to the office.
These systems are unsatisfactory in the context of a drive-in estimating area. In such a case, a customer brings a vehicle in to get the estimate. Historically, an estimator or appraiser would take the notes as mentioned above and go to his office to determine the appropriate amount of the estimate. Once inside the appraiser may discover that additional information may be required from the vehicle, such as the exact portion of a part damaged or the extent of the damage which he cannot determine from the notes he took or his memory. He will then return to the car, perhaps several times. In addition, during the time the appraiser is looking up the parts, their prices and the like, the customer is often left outside waiting at a vehicle, sometimes for several minutes at a time. The customer service aspect is critically important in the auto service industry and this can create some loss of customers.
To some extent the development of the CD-Rom drive has assisted the insurance industry in this process in that it is possible to bring the data into the area where a damaged car is. However, the CD-Rom in a laptop is somewhat ineffective for this application. A CD-Rom drive is relatively fragile and can be easily damaged by the jostling which is typical in the context of a drive-in environment. In addition, the standard laptop is somewhat heavy and bulky to use. The use of a laptop is not very satisfactory when one considers that an appraiser is often looking under a car or otherwise down on his knees. The laptop is often too big to use in such a context. Thus a system is required which will allow an appraiser to remain at the car and access the database simultaneously, while maintaining the device used to access the database small in size.
There is a drawback to the wireless LAN. Because of the limitations of the radio signal, the wireless LAN has a 1.6 Mbps data transmission rate over the wireless portion. This data rate is only about  1/5  to  1/6  the rate of the standard network. The portable computers only get data and refresh their screens at a slow rate. Thus, more local processing on the tablet or pen computers is required if the speed at which the screens refresh is to remain similar to a wired LAN. 
Some of the parts used in the present system have been developed by other companies. One such disclosure is a website available at http://www.fpsi.fujitsu.com/market/stlorfps.htm. This website shows a press release which indicates the use of the spread spectrum technology with a pen computer.